The Charge Of The Light Brigade has been famously lauded in mythology as a glorious act of heroism. In reality, it was a disastrous military misadventure that squandered soldiers’ lives and ended in acrimony as various elements of British High Command sought to blame each other for the mess.
I know this may seem an odd way to start a piece about cricket, but can you think of a more apt metaphor for what has transpired overnight at Trent Bridge between England and New Zealand?
In case anyone has missed the news, the fourth day of the deciding test of this series saw Ben Stokes publicly announce his retirement from international cricket as the second session was still being played. The release of that news appeared choreographed to coincide with a marathon bowling spell from Stokes as he strove to extract a stubborn Kiwi batting line-up on a wicket that was playing tricks. As word reached the crowd, and they rose to applaud, Stokes inevitably took a wicket with his very next delivery. Later on, Stokes opened England’s batting run chase with all guns blazing, scoring 30 off 20 balls before hitting a catch.
There’s no doubt this was cricket theatre of the highest order. Spectacular drama you could barely script. But none of it altered the reality that New Zealand start the final day’s play overwhelmingly poised to win the series. Nor the reality that this would be England’s first home series loss since 2012. And that this defeat would be England’s seventh among the last nine tests they have played.
The choices Ben Stokes made overnight (our time) seem both surprising and inevitable, which says a lot about Stokes himself, and the growing contradictions in the whole Bazball experience as it has unravelled since the Australian Ashes summer. Though named after coach Brendon McCullum, Bazball is unthinkable without Stokes. He is its talisman. He has embodied the spirit of reckless abandon it encouraged. One way or another, it has always felt like Stokes and Bazball would both burn out, not fade away. So it is proving to be.
Ben Stokes will be remembered as one of the most exhilarating cricketers of our or any time. With the bat he has played a handful of innings that will live in the memory of the game as long as it is played. Ever since 2019 Headingly, he has been the man Australia has been most wary of, no matter the situation. As a bowler, he is in England’s top ten all-time wicket takers. If the pitch was flat, or the situation dire, he was usually the most likely to make something happen, often by sheer will. Cricketers such as this don’t come along often.
But the sheer intensity of will that drove him as a player has left his legacy as captain much more questionable. Did he overshadow as much as he inspired? His vice-captain is Harry Brook, a tremendous batting talent who often seems to approach his cricket with the mentality of a ten-year old. Brook is emblematic of a gifted generation of English cricketers who produced brilliant individual moments under Bazball, but generally have under-achieved.
A captain’s first responsibility is to maximise his team’s chances of success. Stokes has strained every sinew in his body to pursue his team’s success, but if he feels like his teammates have too often let him down does he ever consider the possibility he himself fed their dependency on him? If I was in the England dressing room, I would have often been inspired by my captain, yet also quietly dreading the moment when he demanded we follow him into the Valley of Death.
While England were consumed with their own self-created dramas yesterday, the real cricket story was again being written by the Kiwis. As England have found ways through this series to sabotage themselves on and off field, New Zealand has just gotten on with it. Losing at Lords on a sub-standard wicket – which much like last summer’s MCG pitch played to England’s strengths – they then had their greatest-ever batter retire. The unobtrusive manner in which Kane Williamson departed says a lot about Kiwi understatement. When England chaos presented a significantly inexperienced team for The Oval, New Zealand set about ruthlessly exploiting them.
With all to play for at Trent Bridge, the Kiwis were unable to pick two of their best quicks. They had the luck of winning a significant toss. They then lost one of their replacement seamers to concussion, leaving replacement Zac Foulkes as effectively their seventh-choice seam option.
Three days of fluctuating fortunes left the game delicately poised for the fourth morning. Daryl Mitchell proceeded to play the sort of grinding, hard-nosed test innings that has been spurned by Bazball values. Copping multiple blows on a wearing wicket, he just dug in and refused to budge. His approach was unconfused by notions of entertainment. There was a test match to win. There’s nothing wrong with entertaining cricket, but sometimes there’s just a test match to win, by any means necessary.
The immediate public response to Stokes’ retirement announcement was a combination of regret, tribute, adulation, conspiracy theories as to the real cause, and early signs of the recriminations which will inevitably follow.
Stokes’ teammates seemed carried away by the emotion of the day and the example of their captain’s approach. A kamikaze 15 overs saw 103 runs scored, but four crucial wickets sacrificed. Further injuries reduced the Kiwis to only two fit seamers, but no thought seemed given to taking the game deep into tomorrow to exploit that. England require an unlikely 270 further runs on the final day. Joe Root would be excused if he was privately cursing the fact that it all relies on him again.
Bazball stayed true to the ambition that it has never been dull. It certainly entertained, particularly in its early years. Parties are usually great while they last. But then the bills start arriving and it all feels a lot less like fun.
Read more from John Butler HERE
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John Butler has fled the World’s Most Liveable Car Park and now breathes the rarefied air of the Ballarat Plateau. For his sins, he has passed his 40th year as a Carlton member.
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